Estate Agents fees v Solicitors fees

bukup

A_Nice_Englishman wrote: »

bukup, are you familiar with the Ombudsman for Estate Agents Code of Practice?

Would you agree that if estate agents complied with it sales would proceed more smoothly?

All I can say is how many would comply with it, as at present I can count on one hand how many do !!

A_Nice_Englishman

bukup wrote: »

All I can say is how many would comply with it, as at present I can count on one hand how many do !!

Trouble is, the Ombudsman has no powers to investigate unless a consumer makes a complaint, consumers don't know about the Code so don't complain and estate agents don't see the need to comply as they don't think they'll get caught.

I had occasion to complain to an estate agent once. My letter started 'I refer to the OEA Code of Practice....' It was obvious fthat he hadn't even bothered reading it before replying. :rolleyes:

m00m00

bukup wrote: »

I beg to differ - they only move on because they have no idea what the hell they are talking about - only the good ones ever stay still and those who do stay still I have the most respect for. I can count on one hand how many agents know what they are talking about !!!

ok,

i'm afraid I'm going to have to shoot you down, as I have better knowledge than you in this area due to my prior experience

I have had access to the staff records at a MAJOR financial services company that has both a large legal department and also owned NATIONAL estate agents chain, including salary details.

the average salary for people working in the estate agents was a fraction of that earned by even the average people in the legal department, and the high fliers in the legal dept earned several times that of the high fliers in the EA.

The churn rate in the EA was about 33% a year, only bettered within the company by the Call Centre CS staff. The churn rate within the legal dept, was close to nil, within a margin of error, in a 2 year period.

EA's only ever do well in a housing boom, there were plenty of unemployed and bankrupted EA's in the early 90s.

bukup

m00m00 wrote: »

ok,

i'm afraid I'm going to have to shoot you down, as I have better knowledge than you in this area due to my prior experience

I have had access to the staff records at a MAJOR financial services company that has both a large legal department and also owned NATIONAL estate agents chain, including salary details.

the average salary for people working in the estate agents was a fraction of that earned by even the average people in the legal department, and the high fliers in the legal dept earned several times that of the high fliers in the EA.

The churn rate in the EA was about 33% a year, only bettered within the company by the Call Centre CS staff. The churn rate within the legal dept, was close to nil, within a margin of error, in a 2 year period.

EA's only ever do well in a housing boom, there were plenty of unemployed and bankrupted EA's in the early 90s.

Lets look at the facts:

Agent sells 10 properties at £200k each and charges 1.25% per property.

@10 x £2500.00 in fees = £25,000 + VAT

Solicitor acts on behalf of 10 clients selling their property at £200k.

The solicitor charges £695.00 per client.

@10 x £695.00 in charges = £6950.00 + VAT

All I can say is that all law firms must have great financial advice,if you believe it is them that are making more money.

Remember,I am talking about the Principal in the estate agents,you know the one who owns it (the one who gets the big bucks).

What about when they sell properties for £500,000 or £1,000,000 + and they are charging 2,3 or even 4% ......! Work that out,thats lots of ££££'s in charges.

The solicitor will charge a higher fee,maybe £1100.00 , but not £20,000 £30,000 or £40,000 .

A_Nice_Englishman

bukup wrote: »

Lets look at the facts:

Agent sells 10 properties at £200k each and charges 1.25% per property.

@10 x £2500.00 in fees = £25,000 + VAT

Solicitor acts on behalf of 10 clients selling their property at £200k.

The solicitor charges £695.00 per client.

@10 x £695.00 in charges = £6950.00 + VAT

All I can say is that all law firms must have great financial advice,if you believe it is them that are making more money.

Remember,I am talking about the Principal in the estate agents,you know the one who owns it (the one who gets the big bucks).

What about when they sell properties for £500,000 or £1,000,000 + and they are charging 2,3 or even 4% ......! Work that out,thats lots of ££££'s in charges.

The solicitor will charge a higher fee,maybe £1100.00 , but not £20,000 £30,000 or £40,000 .

Profit = Income - Expenses

You've only considered the income of an estate agency or solicitor, not the expenses.

bukup

A_Nice_Englishman wrote: »

Profit = Income - Expenses

You've only considered the income of an estate agency or solicitor, not the expenses.

on my example there was a massive gap in fees.

I would be only too happy to see how you can prove how this gap narrows with expenses......thanks

m00m00

Bukup, you are plucking figures out of the air, in the middle of a housing boom.

my post was based on actual evidence from one of the biggest financial services companies in Europe, over 2 years (2001-2003)

bukup

m00m00 wrote: »

Bukup, you are plucking figures out of the air, in the middle of a housing boom.

my post was based on actual evidence from one of the biggest financial services companies in Europe, over 2 years (2001-2003)

so you are basing this on current terms then.....?

A_Nice_Englishman

bukup wrote: »

on my example there was a massive gap in fees.

I would be only too happy to see how you can prove how this gap narrows with expenses......thanks

You (I think) are asserting that estate agents' fees are much bigger than solicitors' because they make excessive profits. I think that estate agents' fees could be much lower if they ran their businesses more efficiently, particularly by discouraging timewasters and vetting buyers so more sales succeeded first time.

I would analyse an estate agent's office and a solicitor's practice to see who is right but doubt that I would be given the opportunity. It's probably a bit of both I guess

Canucklehead

Good afternoon: We pay less in estate agent fees than we do for conveyancing...but of course we use Housenetwork (Option 1). Estate agents need be regulated and licensed as they are in Canada...will this ever happen?

HTH

Canucklehead